The Fayette Board of Aldermen welcomed its newest member during its most recent meeting on Tuesday, April 23. Council members also heard a request for sewer service from a neighborhood annexed in the 1950s.

LeeAnna Shiflett won a two-way race in the April 2 election for a seat on the city’s Southwest Ward vacated by outgoing councilwoman Bekki Galloway. However, her swearing-in was delayed for two weeks due to complications with her job as Executive Director of the Fayette Housing Authority.

Prior to the election, Shiflett had vowed to abstain from any voting related to the housing authority, but uncertainties remained about her eligibility due to possible conflicts. She solved the problem by resigning from her position with the Fayette Housing Authority, telling this newspaper that she is passionate about serving on the city council.

The housing authority is currently hiring a new executive director. An advertisement for the position appears on page 7 of this newspaper.

Galloway was presented with a certificate of appreciation from newly-elected Mayor Greg Stidham, commemorating her time in the council. She was also voted by the new council to be a member of the city’s tree board.

Fayette Director of Public Works, Danny Dougherty, reported to the council that he had contacted the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) about the possibility of moving the center line on the block of Church Street (Hwy. 240) between Morrison and Davis streets along the square one foot to the east to ease parking congestion, as was requested by Alderwoman Peggy O’Connell.

Dougherty said moving the line would do little to ease congestion between parking spots on either side of the street as it is already fairly centered. He noted that MoDOT has not responded yet to the request, and he doesn’t expect it to be granted.

Dougherty also asked the council to appoint longtime city water superintendent Curtis Hammons as Fayette’s representative on the board of the regional water commission. The council gave unanimous approval of the request.

City Clerk Judy Thompson reported that the city is still trying to hire lifeguards for the upcoming summer swimming season. Training is scheduled for May, and the Fayette City Pool is slated to open on Saturday, May 25, on Memorial Day Weekend.

Assistant to the Mayor Mike Dimond reported that the CID board, upon which he sits, is planning to form an Ad Hoc committee regarding the downtown parking report that was recently formulated by engineering firm OWN, Inc. The committee will include members of the City of Fayette, Downtown Fayette (formerly Fayette Main Street), the chamber of commerce, and the CID board.

“They’re going to try to take all the best of everything that has been presented and then put together a proposal, or perhaps two, to present to the council,” Dimond explained.

City council members were presented with a somewhat strange situation on Green Acres Drive, near the City Park. Janet Morris, the daughter of longtime Green Acres resident Edris Wilhoit, explained that the street was built without access to the city’s sewer system.

Morris requested on behalf of the residents of Green Acres Drive that the city make good on a decades-old pledge to build a sewer system to serve the homes along the streets.

When the area was annexed into the city and developed for residential homes in the 1950s, the city, according to Morris, agreed to extend the sewer service to the end of the street. Currently, it only serves the first two homes along the street and was capped.

Homes later built along the street, but never hooked up the sewer line, were forced to use septic systems. However, residents there were still paying sewer charges on their monthly utility bills with the understanding that sewer service would eventually be installed.

“When the city was approached again, since the residents were paying for a service they were not receiving, the response was again, there are no funds for an extension,” Morris said. “The city’s solution was to discontinue billing the homeowners for their service. And as a side note, the homeowners were not refunded, but they’d been paying for several years.”

Even after several other areas of Fayette were later developed and connected to the sewer system, Green Acres residents were denied, she said.

“So now, 65 years later plus, we’re putting our faith in the city administration now to invest the time and the resources to complete the sewer system on Green Acres Drive, whether it be through a USDA program or another program for rural communities,” she said.

While there is nothing in writing to document the city’s pledge, there was little doubt shown by city attorney Nathan Nickolaus and city council members that, indeed, the city did make the pledge to provide sewer service.

Morris said that at least nine of the 10 homeowners on the street are willing to connect to the sewer system should a line be installed.

Nickolaus said the first step for the city would be to obtain an engineering study. “We need to know how it could be done…and what it would cost. An engineering study would tell us both of those.”

In other business, the council gave unanimous approval to grant a business license for Sweet Faye Boutique, which will be located in the newly built Eagle Plaza on the west side of the courthouse square, and a Sunday liquor license for TJ’s Diner & Bar downtown.

The council also heard from Cana Conrow. She is the Executive Director for Downtown Fayette, which until recently was called Fayette Main Street. The organization changed the name to encompass a larger area, such as which is inside the Historic Downtown Fayette Commercial Community Improvement District (CID). She outlined upcoming projects, such as outdoor dances on North Main Street—the next is scheduled for Saturday, May 4 (see advertisement on page 2 of this newspaper)—and movies on the square in June and August.

The council tabled two items on its agenda. The first regarded a contract for a new sign above the entrance to City Hall. The second was a contract approval between the city and RTS Waste Management. Details of the contract are still being negotiated and will be discussed at a future meeting.

The Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.